Wylie's Pointer takes key role as sub after two knee injuries

Reporter-News Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich
Wylie High School's Cali Pointer moves into position during the Lady Bulldog's game against Breckenridge on Feb. 10. Pointer is a spark off the bench, hitting 47 percent of her shots and 37 percent on 3-pointers.

If Wylie senior guard Cali Pointer is a step slow getting to a spot on defense, she has an excuse.

Two good ones, actually.

Pointer doesn't like to make excuses, so you'll never hear her use her surgically repaired knees as a reason for why she can't do something.

Pointer, whose freshman and junior seasons ended with knee injuries, instead prefers to focus on the things she has control over, such as working hard to help her team in any way she can.

That approach has made quite an impression on first-year Wylie coach Tri Danley.

"The worst thing in sports is probably a knee injury, and to go through two of them, it changes a person. It really does," Danley said. "But Cali doesn't let it affect her. I have never seen that affect her game at all."

Pointer suffered her first injury -- a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a partially torn meniscus and a cracked right knee cap -- playing on Wylie's freshman team in 2006.

Through constant work and rehab, she recovered from that physical setback to earn a starting spot on varsity by the end of her sophomore season. After being called up from junior varsity in December that year, the sharpshooting Pointer averaged 8.1 points per game on her way to being named the District 7-3A Newcomer of the Year by the league's coaches.

With that success as a sophomore, Pointer was penciled in as a starter and expected to be a big contributor for Wylie in 2008. And after a healthy offseason, it appeared she was poised for a breakout junior season.

But just a few games into that season, she suffered another setback, this time a torn ACL and partially torn meniscus in her left knee.

"It was pretty discouraging," she said. "The first time, I think, was a little tougher because being young or whatever, I thought it was the end of the world.

"The second time, I knew that I had my senior year left and I thought a little bit more rationally about it. It was still depressing, but my team and everybody helped me rehab and stuff."

With the help of family and friends, Pointer hit the comeback trail once again, hoping to get healthy in time to put an exclamation point on an injury-plagued high school career.

And through another rigorous rehab program, she was ready for the start of this season. Though she's seen her role on the team change and her minutes slightly decrease, she's still managed to make a big impact for the playoff-bound Lady Bulldogs (28-5).

No longer a starter, Pointer has been used by Danley to give Wylie an offensive spark off the bench. In 33 games, she has averaged 5.2 points, shooting 47 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range.

And while the bench player role wasn't something Pointer fully embraced at first, she's grown to enjoy it.

"I think it's been good for me," she said. "At first, I was kind of bothered by it, but now it's just what I have to do -- come off a bench and get a spark going because the starting five are strong players and they all deserve to start."

Since returning from her second injury, Pointer said the most notable differences in her game show up on the defensive side of the floor. With reduced quickness in her lateral movement, she said she occasionally has trouble guarding an opponent tightly.

But the knee troubles have had little to no impact on her offense, where her ball-handling, passing ability and shooting stroke make her a constant threat.

Danley said he's tried to put Pointer in a position that neutralizes her weaknesses and magnify her strengths.

"My coaching philosophy is we're going to focus totally on strengths and not weaknesses," he said. "Not one time have I ever said, 'Cali, you've got a knee injury, you can't guard this girl.' I've always tried to approach it in a positive way first, and I wouldn't do it any other way.

"I'm going to put Cali in a position where I think she can be successful, and I think her biggest weapon to this team is No. 1 her leadership and work ethic and then her ability to shoot the ball."

Pointer's outside shooting ability is instantly evident to anyone who watches her play. Her leadership is a bit more subtle to the outside observer, but it doesn't go unnoticed by those who matter most: her teammates.

"Cali is one of the strongest people I know," said senior forward Lauren Keenum, who has played with Pointer four years at Wylie. "She's been through a lot, and she's come out of it a better person for it. She really is just a beacon of strength on our team.

"She's gone through two knee surgeries and just a lot of stuff in her life that has taught her a lot about how to persevere and how to overcome. I think it's really important that we have her on our team."

That's a sentiment echoed by Danley, who said Pointer's all-out style of play "should be a standard here."

"I don't really know Cali's full story, but to have two knee injuries of that caliber, there's no question that she can set an example for anybody in our program," he said. "Coming back from one and playing about 75 percent is pretty good for a girl. Cali's done it twice and she's playing at a very high level.

"She's going to do try to do anything we ask her to do. And if she falls, she's going to get up."

Pointer, who said she's thankful to be back on the basketball court, said she's just tried to take everything in stride and learn from her experiences.

"It's just taught me that things are going to happen in life, but you can't just get down and let them beat you," she said. "You have to get over them."